Tim Tebow decided to stay another year at college instead of entering the draft. “He’s not ready to come out,” “He’ll never be an NFL Quarterback,” and “He’s projected as a tight end or h-back.” Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to finish his education. Maybe he wanted to stay at school before he moved on to a YEAR-ROUND JOB like everyone else! It’s entirely possible, though rarely discussed, that the decision could have, in fact, had very little to do with football. We all know from the human interest stories that his family is very religious. Maybe in much the same vein they value education. Tebow, to my knowledge, hasn’t done any interviews explaining his decision. And, in the end, does it really matter why he did it? College football is more than a vehicle to the NFL, as so many NCAA commercials are quick to point out: “go professional in something other than sports.”

The Tebow discussion touches on what I posted yesterday, the NFL’s willingness to draft body types. The knock against Tebow is about his throwing motion. I remember the same things being said about Phillip Rivers’ throwing motion as draft day neared and he seems to be succeeding. People say that his size is ideal to take punishment, but that his running style would not work in the NFL. I’ll be the first to agree that Tebow will probably not be the best quarterback the NFL has ever seen. But we are talking about a young man who for years has relied on his ability to win games first and foremost. Statistics on running and passing aside, Tebow does what he can to help his team win the game. Maybe people are worried about projecting him as a quarterback because they can’t use any measurements to predict any success because there have been so few like him. I think the mistake is to expect anyone to be a Hall of Famer out of college. Let’s try to predict short term success and, in the act, speculate on future megastars.

The new media storm surrounding such decisions is the result of the way top picks are guaranteed massive amount of money by greedy agents. In the era of holdouts and performance bonuses athletes seem to have forgotten that they are, in fact, only candidates for a job. If they don’t have the right attitude they should be let go; it’s a privilege not a right. Maybe teams who surround themselves with such players may have temporary success, but in the long run the cohesiveness of a team wins in the NFL, not the individual players. The best example is the Dallas Cowboys in the past 5 seasons. They have had a roller coaster ride of successes and failures, but in the end they lose because they are taking chances on non-character guys. That and Tony Romo is not a proven playoff quarterback.

Tebow, however, is the focus here. He wins games. I believe that has to count for something. Sports can be uplifting because sometimes they defy explanation. Tebow defies explanation. Nothing is rational about why he wins games. We can’t explain it by physical talents alone, of which he has many. Plenty of players with far more talent have not been as successful has he has. My point is that the NFL would be remiss to not try him as a quarterback. He’s not used to taking snaps from under center. That can be taught and practiced.

You can’t practice always coming out on top. If that were possible, wouldn’t more people enjoy that type of success?